Privacy Policy
The short version
Tide is built to be private. There are no accounts, no ads, and no cross-app tracking, and we never sell your data. Almost everything you log stays on your device. Your information leaves your phone in only four cases: (1) you turn on a share link, (2) you use voice dictation, (3) an anonymous summary of your onboarding answers, or (4) your due date, if you allow notifications, so reminders can count down to it. Each is explained below.
Information in the app
You provide this information; we don't collect it in the background:
- Contraction timing — start/stop times and the patterns Tide calculates.
- Updates — text notes, photos, and videos you add.
- Birth details — optionally a baby's name, date and time of birth, weight, length, a note, and a photo.
- Voice recordings — only if you tap the microphone to dictate an update (see "Voice dictation" below).
Tide does not collect your location, contacts, health records from Apple Health, device identifiers for advertising, or behavioral usage analytics beyond the onboarding summary described below.
Where your information is stored
- On your device. By default, all of the above is stored locally on your iPhone (and shared with the Tide widget and Apple Watch app through a private app group on your device). Saved "Birth Stories" also live only on your device.
- In your photo library. When you tap "Save to Photos," an image or announcement card is saved to your camera roll at your request.
- Apple. If you have iCloud Backup enabled, your device backup (which may include Tide's local data) is handled by Apple under Apple's privacy policy.
The share link (only when you turn it on)
If you tap "Share this link," Tide creates a private, randomly-generated link and begins sending the contents you've chosen to share — your contraction timing and patterns, your updates, photos, videos, and (if you announce it) your birth announcement — to our hosting provider, Supabase, so that people you send the link to can view them in a web page. Until you turn sharing on, this information stays on your device.
- Who can see it: anyone who has the link. The link is a long random token and is not listed or searchable, but treat it like a house key — anyone you forward it to can view the shared content. Viewers can only look; they cannot post, edit, or message back. A partner you explicitly invite with an invite code can also add updates.
- Contraction data: your contraction start and stop times and the timing patterns Tide derives from them are shared so viewers can follow your live timer and progress. This is health-related information — please share your link only with people you trust.
- Photos and videos you share are stored on Supabase and served from unguessable URLs so the web page can display them.
- Turning it off: when you end the session, start fresh, or stop sharing, the link is deactivated and the page no longer shows your information. The link also automatically expires about 48 hours after your last update.
- Writes are protected by a secret stored only in your device's Keychain, so only your phone can add to your shared session.
Your first name. If you tell Tide what to call you, your first name is included on the page your family follows, so they know whose labor they're watching (for example, "Katie's labor"). Giving your name is optional — skip it and the page stays generic. Your name is stored with that shared session only: it is removed when you stop sharing, when the session expires, and when you use Delete shared data in Settings.
Copies of previously shared data and media may remain stored on Supabase after a link is deactivated. You can email us at katie@katiepietrowski.com to request permanent deletion.
Anonymous onboarding analytics
When you go through Tide's opening questions, the app sends an anonymous summary of your answers and of how far you got. This tells us which parts of the setup are confusing and who Tide is helping, so we can make it better.
This summary contains only: your due date, whether it's your first baby, the goals you selected, your "when to head in" preference, which path you chose, the last setup screen you reached, whether you completed setup, whether you purchased, and your app version.
It contains no name, email, phone number, contact details, or advertising identifier, and it is not linked to your name, to your contractions and updates, or to your share link. It is not used to identify you and we do not attempt to re-identify it.
So that we can tell one person's progress apart from another's, the summary carries a random identifier generated on your device. It is not your Apple ID, your device ID, or any advertising ID — it is a random value that means nothing outside this summary, and it is never combined with your name or your labor data.
We use this information only in aggregate to understand and improve Tide. We do not sell it.
Notifications
If you allow notifications, your device gives us an anonymous token that lets us send you reminders — for example, a daily countdown to your due date.
So that a countdown can say the right number on the right morning, we store two things alongside that token: your due date and your device's time zone. Nothing else about your pregnancy is attached. The token still carries no name, email, or contact details, and it is not linked to your contractions, your updates, or the page your family follows.
We use this only to send you reminders about Tide and your due date. We do not use your due date to target advertising, and we do not share it with anyone.
You can turn notifications off any time in iOS Settings. If you clear your due date in the app, we clear it here too, and we delete tokens that are no longer valid.
Voice dictation (OpenAI)
If you enable voice dictation and tap the microphone, Tide records short audio and sends it to OpenAI to transcribe it into text. We do not store your audio. OpenAI processes it under their API data policies — audio sent through the API is not used to train OpenAI's models and may be retained by OpenAI for a limited period (up to ~30 days) for abuse monitoring, then deleted. If you never use the microphone, no audio is ever recorded or sent. You can turn this off by not using the feature; microphone access is also controllable in iOS Settings.
Purchases
Tide itself is unlocked with a one-time purchase processed by Apple through the App Store. Tide also offers an optional auto-renewing yearly subscription to Tiny Voices, our separate baby-book app; it renews until you cancel it, and you can manage or cancel it any time in your Apple Account settings.
Apple handles all payment information; we never see or store your payment details. We receive only Apple's confirmation that a purchase is valid. We use RevenueCat to validate purchases; RevenueCat receives Apple's purchase receipt and an anonymous app-generated identifier — never your name or payment details.
If you take the Tiny Voices offer, we pass that same anonymous purchase identifier to our own server so Tiny Voices knows to unlock for you. It carries no name, email, or payment details — only the fact that the subscription is valid.
Third-party services
We rely on a small number of providers ("subprocessors") to run these features. Each receives only what's needed for its function:
| Provider | What it handles | Their policy |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | App distribution, in-app purchase, optional iCloud backup | apple.com/legal/privacy |
| Supabase | Hosting the share link, updates, photos, and videos you choose to share (including your first name if you provide one); storing the anonymous onboarding summary and notification tokens, with the due date and time zone used for reminders; and passing the Tiny Voices unlock request through to RevenueCat without storing it | supabase.com/privacy |
| OpenAI | Transcribing voice dictation to text (only when you use the mic) | openai.com/policies/privacy-policy |
| RevenueCat | Purchase validation (anonymous identifier + receipt only) | revenuecat.com/privacy |
| GitHub Pages | Serving the share-link viewer web page | docs.github.com/privacy |
Shared data is stored on servers located in the United States.
Data retention and deletion
- On-device data: stays until you delete it in the app or delete/reinstall the app. Deleting the app removes its local data from your device.
- Individual updates: you can delete any update (and its photo/video) inside the app at any time.
- Shared data on Supabase: deactivated when you stop sharing/end the session, and auto-expires from view after ~48 hours. To request permanent removal of stored copies, contact us at katie@katiepietrowski.com.
Security
Data sent off your device travels over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Your write secret is stored in the iOS Keychain. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, but we take reasonable measures to protect your information. Because the share link grants access to anyone who has it, please share it only with people you trust.
Children's privacy
Tide is intended for expectant parents and other adults. It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your region).
Your rights
Depending on where you live (for example, the EEA/UK under GDPR or California under the CCPA/CPRA), you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or export your personal information, and to object to certain processing. We do not sell or "share" your personal information for advertising. To exercise any right, contact us at katie@katiepietrowski.com. Since most data lives only on your device, you can also exercise many of these rights directly by editing or deleting content in the app.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. We'll revise the "Effective date" above and, for material changes, provide notice within the app or on this page.
Contact
Questions or requests? Email us at katie@katiepietrowski.com.
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